Roy's Blog: January 2012
January 5, 2012
Successful startups find ways to avoid these 6 deadly mistakes
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Successful startups find ways to avoid these 6 deadly mistakes.
Got an idea you think can make you lots of money? Good. Chalk one up to you for coming up an innovative thought.
But the real challenge you have is to figure out how to monetize it. If you can’t get people to buy it, your idea is wasted.
Here are 6 mistakes entrepreneurs absolutely must avoid:
1. Not determining how your idea is different from your competition
Ultimate success will be determined by staking a unique claim in the market. If your idea is the same as, or similar to something already out there, it will be invisible. It won’t attract attention and no one will buy it.
If you can’t come up with an idea that is different than someone else’s, STOP.
2. Not clearly identifying who the potential customers are for your new idea
Winning is all about targeting your idea to very specific groups of people and giving them a reason to buy from you. It’s not about flogging your idea to the masses and hoping it will stick to some of them.
If you can’t define your potential customers, STOP.
3. Not recruiting people who have a strong marketing and customer service background
Ultimately, the success of your idea will depend on go-to-market effectiveness. Better have people on board who have experience in serving customers and providing value-based solutions to people. Technology and finance expertise are needed as well, but in a supportive role. People responsible for customers must be your anchor.
If you can’t put together a team of people with customer experience, STOP until you find them.
4. Not testing your idea with potential customers
It’s not about how excited you and your friends are about your idea, it’s about what your potential customers think. Get them in a room and present your idea. Ask them to evaluate it. Do they think it satisfies a real need they have? Do they think it’s different than other stuff out there? Would they buy it?
How much would they be prepared to pay for it? Would they likely tell their friends about it? Does your idea excite them?
If you haven’t spent the time obtaining real customer feedback on your idea, STOP until you do.
5. Not defining the unique value you are creating with your idea
Business success comes from providing personal value to people. Figure out how you are satisfying a want or desire that your potential customers have.
This will form the basis of your marketing efforts and your pitch to potential investors.
If you are focussed on the gee whiz features of your potential product, STOP until you’ve figured out the value it delivers to people.
6. Thinking that technology will sell itself
It’s not about a product or service. It’s about how your idea makes a difference to people’s lives or business. People don’t buy technology, they buy what the technology creates for them. Happiness. Joy. Pleasure. Solution to a problem. Make it easy.
If you’re not looking for a way to deliver happiness, STOP.
Then there is the potential investor. What will it take to convince her to part with some of her money and help you launch your idea?
If you fall into the above traps, your audience with them will likely be short and unrewarding
Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series
- Posted 1.5.12 at 10:01 am by Roy Osing
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January 2, 2012
3 great ways to avoid the perfection trap
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Everyone seeks perfection.
The perfect body. The perfect smile. The perfect manuscript. The product that destroys the competition and wins the hearts of people.
The business plan that on paper maximizes the economic benefits to the organization.
The problem is, perfection doesn’t exist.
It’s like pursuing ‘the impossible dream’. For some reason we drive on to get another 10% of what we think is perfection before taking action.
The consequences of chasing perfection are significant.
We burn time.
The return on the extra time spent is zero.
And the results of the incremental effort are unnoticed in any event (50% extra time might produce something that can be noticed but it’s unlikely that anyone will notice the impact of spending another 10% on anything.)
But the real negative is that it keeps you from doing stuff.
Bre Pettis says it well:
”Perfection is boring. And it keeps you from being done.”
Seth Godin talks about the importance of shipping stuff.
And that if you waited until is completed, you would never deliver anything.
Try these 3 things to avoid the perfection trap:
▪️ Force yourself to get stuff just about right.
And then do it.
The reality is, that anything more is a waste of time given the unpredictability of the world today.
It is impossible for you to accurately account for the unknown so why bother?
Get a 70% solution and ship it out the door.
▪️ Give yourself a deadline to finish your work. When your time runs out you’re done.
STOP. Get it out the door. Get used to doing what you can in the time you have given yourself.
▪️ Track the results of your imperfection with your customers.
Get feedback. Determine if they are ok with what you’ve done or not.
Satisfy yourself that you are able to produce good work in less time.
Tweak your work on the run.
In business there is no such thing as the right answer. It’s what people are prepared to accept.
Solutions to 6 decimal places have no role here.
Round up or down and get on with it.
Ponder no longer.
Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series
- Posted 1.2.12 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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December 26, 2011
The reason why you’re imperfect and should be happy to be flawed
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The reason why you’re imperfect and should be happy to be flawed.
The world has pressured us to be perfect.
School teaches us to follow rote and colour inside the lines. Fashion tells us to dress a certain way if you want to fit in.
Most of us walk away with the feeling that we’re flawed in some way since we find it difficult meeting the acceptable norms of the day.
The reality is, however, that no one is flawed.
Rather they are unique.
Special.
Distinctive.
Visible.
Uncommon... in some way.
Flawed in someone else’s context or frame of reference perhaps, but incredible in others.
Find your frame
Your challenge is to find a frame that allows you to express yourself.
To realize your potential.
To contribute.
To be happy.
To realize your dreams.
Your frame could be your social network. A skill. A competency. A hobby. A business. A belief. A physical challenge. A community. A profession. A neighbourhood. A family.
Channel your emotions and energy away from defending yourself in the wrong frame. Away from feeling bad that you’re not fitting in
Rather, discover a frame that is right for you. One that describes who you are.
Where you can standout.
Where you can make a difference.
Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series
- Posted 12.26.11 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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December 19, 2011
‘Putterers’ do these 7 simple things to be great leaders
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‘Putterers’ do these 7 simple things to be great leaders
Great leaders are are amazing putterers.
Leadership is about helping people. Making it easier for them to do their jobs. Bashing barriers so they can do what they want to do.
Remarkable leaders are also great putterers in terms of taking care of the basics for people.
What do putterers do?
▪️They pay attention to detail. Detail about what’s going on in their life. It’s about the “small picture” where things get done. Where people take individual actions to move the organization forward.
At the coal face. If a leader doesn’t know what’s going on where customer meets company, how can they help the people working there?
▪️They have an uncanny ability to remember stuff so they can take action later. Being able to remember what has been observed in the heat of the moment for future reference.
▪️They make the work environment comfortable for people. Clean. Tidy. Organized. A nice place to work. A Maslov factor I suppose.
A basic need that people have. If they are working in a pit, don’t expect them to deliver sterling results.
▪️They take action themselves based on what they observe. Putterers rarely delegate. They get on it. You can’t delegate small picture stuff that needs attention. No one other than you can deal with the situation as well because only you FEEL what needs to be done.
Furthermore, delegation of small picture issues sends the “I really don’t give a damn” message to all, and your currency with the troops takes a plunge.
▪️They are always on the move. Always looking for things to improve for people. Don’t forget The small picture has a high resolution and to be able to deal with issues requires a lot of movement on the Leader’s part. Keep your feet moving!
▪️They anticipate. Being able to apply what they’ve learned in other circumstances to a situation that is developing in front of them. And, as a result, either avoiding an unpleasant ending OR achieving something extraordinary.
▪️They smile a lot. Putterers love what they so. And it’s contagious. And it costs nothing. People around them catch the smile virus. It spreads. Imagine a workplace where everyone is smiling!
How many putter acts do you practice everyday?
Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series
- Posted 12.19.11 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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